A network element can include two different planes that are used to process network traffic: a control plane; and a data plane that includes one or more hardware forwarding engines. The data plane receives, processes, and forwards network traffic using various configuration data (e.g., forwarding, security, quality of service (QoS), and other network traffic processing information). The control plane controls these processing functions of the data plane by configuring the data plane, managing data collected by the data plane, monitoring the data plane, and other management functions. The functions for each of the data and control planes are programmed by a software image, the network element operating system, that is stored on the network element. When the network element boots up, the software image is loaded and is used to program the data plane and control plane.